SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – In a battle of two of the top offensive teams in the conference, it came down to quality defense that made the difference as the second-ranked Drury Lady Panthers downed the Maryville Saints 81-57 at the O’Reilly Family Event Center on Thursday night.
The Lady Panthers forced the Saints into 27 turnovers, tallied 16 steals and held the visitors 15 points below their season scoring average to extend their current winning streak to 18 games in a row and improving to 22-1 overall and now a perfect 15-0 in the GLVC.
Among the key moments in the win was the opening five minutes of the second half, when Drury forced eight turnovers and outscored Maryville 20-3 to build an insurmountable lead.
“I thought our defensive effort tonight was really good,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan. “We were active in the gaps and really good in the post and overall we just had really good execution tonight.”
Senior Alana Findley paced a solid offensive night for the Lady Panthers, hitting on nine of twelve attempts from the floor and finishing with 21 points. Grad students Kaylee DaMitz-Holt and Terrion Moore added 17 and 16 points, respectively.
After leading by seven following the opening period, the Lady Panthers pulled away from the Saints with a strong defensive stand in the second quarter and held a 45-29 advantage at halftime.
“I think we run into some spurts when people get comfortable with our press, or they’ve make some adjustments, which makes us make other adjustments and that gets us back and going again,” added Eagan.
The Saints (13-10, 8-8) were led in scoring by Antoinette Mussorici, who finished with 18 points.
The Lady Panthers are back in action on Saturday, February 11th, when they host Missouri-St. Louis in a 1 pm game at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
